Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl
NASA already did the work up in 1977. Just look up NASA SP-413 Space Settlements: A Design Study. While they were thinking of using a space shuttle rather than a Saturn V variant, they built a dang good economic case for something that could have been done with 1970s technology.
So, what type of setting would evolve if the USA had built such an orbital solar power array? The USA could have 10 TW of electricity production under its control, enough to supply the developed world with all of its energy needs (assuming that plentiful and cheap electricity would have prompted earlier investment in electric vehicles). The space industry would be worth over $4 trillion per year by 2020, and the US government would have had control over the vast majority of it. What happens in a setting where the US government has no debt and it controls 60% of the energy production on Earth?
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I'll build an infinite worlds setting on that.